In conventional service providing systems, a server device and an image processor owned by a user cooperate with each other to provide various services, or a user's image processor alone provides various services to the user.
Known services provided to users may be, for example, content, such as news or weather forecast; translation services in which data input to a server device from the user's image processor is subjected to translation processing and the resulting data is provided to the user via the image processor; and image registration in a library in which data, such as image data, input from the user's image processor to a server device is registered in a library and made available.
The image processor may be, for example, a personal computer or a personal digital assistance (PDA) that output content or processing results to a monitor, and a printer, a facsimile machine, or a copier that can perform print output on network.
A known printer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 62-87378, warms up when a user performs a predetermined operation to use the printer.
In recent years, a digital multi-function device integrating a multiple devices, such as a printer and a scanner, has been developed. The digital multi-function device has many devices contained therein. When a user has not used a service for a predetermined amount of time, a device within the multi-function device that consumes a substantial amount of power is placed into a sleep mode or so-called power-saving mode.
In the conventional digital multi-function device, when a user performs an operation associated with the use of a service, the devices, such as the printer and the scanner, that have been placed in the sleep condition in which the devices cannot be driven, are all put into a standby state where the devices can be driven. Therefore, even when a user does not desire a service that uses, for example, the scanner, the scanner is placed in the standby state. Thus, power is wasted.
A known scanner is placed in the sleep condition by turning off a lamp for irradiating a read object, such as a document, when the read object is read with an image pickup device. In a digital multi-function device including such a scanner, the lamp is turned on even when the scanner does not need to be driven to provide a service desired by a user. Thus, power is wasted.
A known digital multi-function device includes, as a printer, an inkjet printer and a laser beam printer. In a conventional digital multi-function device, both of the inkjet printer and the laser beam printer are placed in the standby state, regardless of the types of services that a user desires. Thus, sources, such as power or ink, are wasted.
For example, an inkjet printer performs a cleaning operation by ejecting ink in the ink tank from nozzles to clean the nozzles before a print output is performed. Thus, dried or solidified ink adhered to the nozzles of an inkjet print head can be removed. In a digital multi-function device that includes such an inkjet printer, the cleaning operation is performed even when the inkjet printer does not need to be driven to provide a service desired by a user. Thus, ink is wasted.
In a known laser beam printer, a fixer for fixing a toner image onto a sheet is turned off to place the laser beam printer in the sleep condition. In a digital multi-function device including such a laser beam printer, the fixer is turned on even when the laser beam printer does not need to be driven to provide a service desired by a user. Thus, power is wasted.
When the switch is made between the scanner and the printer to provide services by the digital multi-function device, the printer is generally driven after the scanner is driven. Conventionally, all the devices in the multi-function device are placed in the standby state at the substantially same time. Therefore, the time when the fixer is turned on becomes longer, leading to wasted power consumption.